This invention relates generally to the art of vehicle headlights, and more particularly to a vehicle headlight in which a reflector can be selectively rotated about either of two perpendicular axes for adjusting a beam produced by the headlight.
It has been suggested to mount a vehicle headlight reflector on two adjustable pivot point mechanisms and a third pivot point mechanism. In one such suggested system, at least one of the pivot point mechanisms comprises a spherical head, or ball, mounted in a socket of a receiver which is rigidly attached to the reflector. The spherical head is attached to a pivot-mechanism pin which extends approximately parallel to an optical axis of the headlight to a back-wall opening in a headlight housing. An attachment member engages an outer end portion of the pivot-mechanism pin to the back wall at the back-wall opening. A well known headlight assembly of German Offenlegungsschrift 35 09 831 has such a pivot-mechanism pin with threads which are screwed into a nut mounted at a back-wall opening. A turning knob is mounted on the end of the threaded pin extending through the opening outside the headlight housing while a spherical head of the pivot-mechanism pin rests in a socket of a receiver rigidly coupled to a reflector. This spherical coupling is uncomplicated and quick to mount, however, it is difficult to dismount because a relatively large jerking force is required to release the spherical head from the socket. Doing this can damage the headlight.
Sometimes it is desirable to separate the spherical head from the socket to replace a first pivot-mechanism pin with a pivot-mechanism pin of a power-driven light-distance adjusting mechanism. Such an exchange would be simple and quick if it could be made from the back side of the headlight without detaching other connections between the reflector and the housing, however, when such a pivot-mechanism pin of a power-driven light-distance adjusting mechanism is pressed into a socket this can cause damage to inner workings of the power adjusting mechanism.
A jerky attachment and/or detachment of the sphere and socket of the Offenlegungsschrift 35 09 831 headlight could be reduced if a connection between the receiver and the reflector could be disassembled through a further hole in the backside of the housing. However, in order to do this, either for replacing a fixed pivot point mechanism with an adjustable pivot point mechanism or a manually adjustable mechanism with a power mechanism, the reflector would still have to be dismounted at all three pivot point mechanisms because the receiver is larger than the opening can be in the back wall of the housing. Such a dismounting of the reflector is quite burdensome and time consuming. In the case of the headlight of Offenlegungsschrift 31 49 831, in which reflector is in the interior of a housing formed by a housing rear wall and a light transmissive shield, the reflector must not only be removed from all three supports, but the light transmissive shield must also be removed from the back wall of the housing. Again, this can cause damage to the light transmissive shield or the housing back wall. Also, if the light transmissive shield and back wall of the housing are not properly sealed together, and because of the opening in the rear wall of the housing through which the connection between the reflector and the receiver are made, water and mud can get into the interior of the headlight.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to improve such headlight structures by providing a spherical-head receiver structures which allows removal of such pivot-mechanism pin spherical heads therefrom, for both fixed and manually adjustable pivot-point mechanisms, so that the pivot mechanism pins can be removed through openings in back walls of the headlights. After such dismounting, a pivot-mechanism pin of a power light-distance adjusting mechanism can have its spherical head coupled to the receiver rigidly mounted on the reflector from outside the back wall of the headlight. In addition, the reflector is easily adjustable and firmly mounted.
A further prior art headlight is disclosed in German Gebrauchsmuster 83 13 450. In this device an attachment member attaching a pivot-mechanism pin to an edge of an opening in the back wall of a housing is ring formed and elastic so as to form a portion of the back wall which seals on a pivot-mechanism pin. A length axis of the pivot-mechanism pin passes through the ring-formed elastic wall portion and is approximately perpendicular to a length axis of an adjusting screw which is mounted outside of the housing, perpendicular to an optical axis of the headlight. An outer end of the pivot mechanism pin has a nut attached thereto with which threads of the adjusting screw engage, while an inner end of the pivot mechanism pin has a spherical head thereon which is mounted in a shell of a receiver whose length axis aligns with the axis of the pivot mechanism pin. With such a mechanism, a contacting area between the pivot mechanism pin and the ring formed elastic wall portion become a pivot and the pivot mechanism pin becomes a lever having two working ends. If the ring formed elastic wall portion is constructed of a very elastic raw material, manual adjustment of the headlights requires a relatively small force, however, the reflector vibrates quite a bit while the vehicle is driving. Also, with such a headlight, it is not possible to later mount a pivot mechanism pin of a power light-distance adjusting mechanism to the reflector through such a ring formed elastic wall portion.
Therefore it is an object of this invention to improve such a headlight by providing a structure which allows a first pivot mechanism pin to be replaced by a pivot mechanism pin of a power light-distance adjusting mechanism without disassembling a headlight housing. It is also an object of this invention to provide a structure which allows a pivot mechanism pin to be easily manually adjustable and relatively vibration free during driving. In addition, it is an object of this invention to provide such a structure in which a relatively small force is required, either manually or power driven, to adjust a reflector through the pivot mechanism pin.